Closure handling apparatus

ABSTRACT

RANDOMLY ARRANGED SHALLOW CLOSURES ARE GUIDED BETWEEN OPPOSED ROTARY BRUSHES. CLOSURES ENTER BETWEEN THE BRUSHES WITH THE OPEN END OF A CLOSURE FACING EITHER ONE OR THE OTHER OF THE OPPOSED BRUSHES. AS A CLOSURE PASSES BETWEEN THE BRUSHES, THE BRISTLES OF ONE BRUSH ENTER THE OPEN END OF THE CLOSURE, THE OPPOSING BRUSH BEARING AGAINST THE CLOSED END. THE ENGAGEMENT OF THE BRISTLES WITH THE OPEN END OF A CLOSURE CAUSES THE CLOSURE TO MOVE TO A POSITION WITH ITS OPEN END FACING UPWARDLY WHEN RELEASED BY THE BRUSHES.

' 1971 w. s. STERLING CLOSURE HANDLING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR W .5. Sterling BY i Original Filed March 27, 1967 ATTORNEY W. S. STERLING CLOSURE HANDLING APPARATUS Oct. 26, 1971 Original Filed March 27, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet z ENTOR W S. yer/ing fwd- ATTORNEY 1971 w. s. STERLING CLOSURE HANDLING APPARATUS Original Filed March 27, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY 1971 w. s. STERLING CLOSURE HANDLING APPARATUS Original Filed March 27, 1967 4 ShectsSheet 4.

ATTORNEY United States Patent F 3,615,151 CLOSURE HANDLING APPARATUS Walter S. Sterling, Quincy, Mass, assignor to Pneumatic Scale Corporation, Quincy, Mass.

Original application Mar. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 626,040. Divided and this application July 25, 1968, Ser. No. 747,651

Int. Cl. B65g 47/24 US. Cl. 198-63 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Randomly arranged shallow closures are guided between opposed rotary brushes. Closures enter between the brushes with the open end of a closure facing either one or the other of the opposed brushes. As a closure passes between the brushes, the bristles of one brush enter the open end of the closure, the opposing brush bearing against the closed end. The engagement of the bristles with the open end of a closure causes the closure to move to a position with its open end facing upwardly when released by the brushes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a division of my copending application, Ser. No. 626,040, filed Mar. 27, 1967.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates to closure handling apparatus which includes closure orienting apparatus wherein randomly arranged closures are oriented and deposited in a chute for delivery to a closure applying machine.

Description of the prior art In prior closure handling and orienting machine the randomly arranged closures presented to the orienting mechanism in an oriented position are accepted by the mechanism while all other closures are rejected to be recirculated and again delivered to the orienting mechanism. In such machines a majority of the closures may be initially disposed in their unoriented position which will be rejected by the orienting mechanism, thus decreasing the efliciency of the apparatus. One such prior closure handling and orienting machine is illustrated and described in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,300,022, issued Jan. 24, 1967, to the present inventor.

In general, the present invention contemplates novel closure handling apparatus embodying means for preorienting a substantial majority of the closures during their delivery from a bulk supply thereof to a closure handling machine, such as a closure orienting and feeding machine of the type illustrated and described in the U8. Pat. No. 3,300,022. In general, in the operation of such machines, the closures such as bottle caps are withdrawn from a bulk supply thereof by a conveyer and are delivered by the conveyer in controlled amounts onto the upper end of a chute. The randomly arranged closures flow by gravity down the chute and are delivered onto a rotary carrier disk having a serrated edge and forming a part of the orienting mechanism as fully disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,300,022. In operation, the closures carried around with the rotary disk are formed into a single line by stationary spiral guide rails and are guided toward the serrated edge of the disk where those closures assuming a position other than a desired or oriented position are rejected, and those closures assuming an oriented position will maintain their balance on the lands of the serrated edge and will be deposited into a feed chute for delivery to a closure applying machine.

3,515,151 Patented Oct. 26, 1971 In practice, the unrestricted flow of closures down the the chute, as shown in Pat. No. 3,300,022, will deliver the closures onto the orienting disk in indeterminate or randomly arranged positions, sometimes with a majority of the closures in their oriented or open end up position, and sometimes with a majority of the closures in their unoriented or open end down position. \AS a result, when a majority of the closures are initially disposed on the orienting disk in their unoriented position, such closures will be rejected, and a relatively few closures Will be deposited into the feed chute. It will be apparent that under these conditions the supply of oriented closures to the feed chute will be substantially reduced to an extent such as to impair the efficiency of the apparatus.

Another type of closure handling and orienting apparatus in which the present invention may be incorporated is illustrated and described in the United States patent to Walter S. Sterling, No. 3,164,292, wherein the randomly arranged closures contained in a supply hopper are delivered to a rotary inclined carrier which convey the closures to orienting mechanism which is likewise arranged to reject all closures except those which arrive in an initially oriented position.

Another reference patent which is pertinent to the present disclosure comprises the US. patent to Walter S. Sterling, No. 3,297,133, wherein provision is also made for preorienting the closures during their delivery to the orienting mechanism.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to novel closure handling apparatus of the character above specified wherein novel provision is made for preorienting a substantial majority, in the order of ninety-five percent of the closures during their passage from a bulk supply thereof to a closure orienting and feeding machine whereby substantially all of the closures delivered to the principal orienting mechanism will be deposited into the feed chute and only a relatively few closures will be rejected from the orienting mechanism, thus increasing the efficiency of the closure orienting and feeding mechanism to a maximum.

In accordance with the present invention provision is made for assuring that a substantial majority of the closures delivered to the orienting disk are disposed in an oriented position. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention provision is made for preorienting the closures prior to delivery thereof to the orienting disk whereby substantially all of the closures delivered to the disk Will pass through the main orienting mechanism to be deposited into the feed chute and only a relatively few closures will be rejected from the disk, thus increasing the efliciency of the closure orienting and feeding mechanism to a maximum. As herein illustrated, the preorienting device comprises a pair of opposed transversely extended rotary brushes disposed at the lower end of the delivery chute and between which the randomly arranged closures delivered by the chute are arranged to pass. In operation, the closures enter edgewise between or are caused to assume a position edgewise between the opposed brushes with the open end of the closure facing either forwardly or rearwardly, all of the closures being caused to leave the brushes with their open ends up to fall by gravity onto the orienting disk.

In a modified form of the invention the preorienting device in the form of opposed rotary brushes is embodied in a closure handling machine of the type illustrated and described in the US. Pat. N0. 2,715,978 wherein the randomly arranged closures contained in a supply hopper are guided and advanced between the brushes to be preoriented and delivered to a rotary carrier. The rotary brushes control the withdrawal of the closures from the supply hopper and are also arranged to deliver a substantial majority of the closures to the carrier disk in an oriented position. Thus, when the closures are subsequently passed through the main orienting mechanism a great majority of the closures will be delivered directly to the supply chute, thus greatly increasing the efficiency of the machine.

Accordingly, the principal object of the present invention is to provide novel and improved closure handling apparatus having provision for delivering randomly arranged closures to an orienting mechanism and wherein provision is made for preorienting the randomly arranged closures during their delivery to the orienting mechanism whereby a substantial majority of the closures will pass through the machine and into a feed chute in their oriented condition.

With this general object in view and such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention consists in the closure handling apparatus and in the various structures, arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims at the end of this specification.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of closure handling and orienting apparatus embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional detail of the preorienting mechanism shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of a modified form of closure handling machine embodying the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional detail view of the preorienting mechanism shown in FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings, in general, the illustrated apparatus embodying the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, comprises a closure orienting and feeding machine including a rotary aligning and orienting disk and an upright conveyor, indicated generally at 12, arranged to withdraw randomly arranged closures 14 from a bulk su-pplythereof and to deliver the same in controlled amounts to the upper end of a delivery chute indicated generally at 16. The closures 1'4 flow down the chute by gravity and, as herein shown, the lower end of the chute is arranged to guide the closures between a pair of opposed elongated rotary brushes 18, 20 disposed transversely of the chute, the brushes operating to release the randomly arranged closures open end up onto the rotary disk 10 as will be hereinafter more fully described.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the present invention is shown as incorporated in a closure orienting and feeding machine of the type illustrated and described in the US. Pat. No. 3,300,022, issued Jan. 24, 1967, to Walter S. Sterling, wherein the rotary disk 10 is provided with a serrated edge 22 providing spaced lands 24. A stationary spiral rail 26 is disposed above the disk 10 and is arranged to guide the closures 14 deposited thereon outwardly and in a single line to present the closures with a portion thereof extended beyond the serrated edge. In operation if the closures are presented to the serrated edge with their open ends down, the rim of the closure will drop down over the spaced lands 24, with portions of the rim extending down into adjacent serrations to become overbalanced and rejected from the disk. Conversely, those closures which are disposed with their open ends up will be supported on the serrated edge by the closed end of the closure resting on and bridging across the spaced lands 24 and will be advanced and deposited into a feed chute 28 for delivery to a closure applying machine.

As illustrated in detail in FIG. 3, the elongated and transversely extended brushes 18, 20 are carried by shafts 30, 3 2, respectively, which are supported in side frames 34, 36 attached by angle brackets 38 to radial supporting arms 40. The radial arms 40 supported above the disk 10 are attached to a spider 42 supported at the upper end of a central stationary supporting shaft 44. The rotary brush 18 is provided with a wooden core 46 keyed to the shaft .30. The shaft is provided with a pulley 4'8 connected by a belt 50 to the output shaft 52 of a speed reducing unit 5' 4 and the input shaft 56 of the unit is belted to a motor 58. The drive unit is carried by a plate 59 supported on the radial arms 40. The brushes 18, 20 are disposed with their peripheries in substantially tangential engagement and are connected to rotate together in opposite directions by intermeshing spur gears 60, 62, the gear 62 being keyed to the shaft 32 to which the wooden core 65 of brush 20 is keyed for rotation with the shaft 43. The shaft 32 is mounted for lateral adjustment in the side frames 34, 3 6 to permit varying the spacing between the brushes 18, 20. As herein shown, the ends of the shaft 32 are carried by side bearings 65 mounted for adjustment in the side frames and arranged to be secured in their adjusted position by bolts 67. The chute 1 6 includes side guides 68, 70 and an extension 72 attached to the side guides includes a stop plate 74 and end plates 76 hav- 30 ing a portion 78 extending between the brushes as shown in FIG. 3. The extension 72 serves to confine the closures to cause them to enter between the rotary brushes 18, 20. i

From the description thus far, it will be seen that in operation the randomly arranged and relatively shallow edgewise between the brushes at right angles to the bristles, the open end of the closure will face to the left viewing FIG. 3, so that the bristles of brush 20 will enter the open end of the closure and the bristles of the opposing brush 18 will bear against the closed end of the closure to urge the rim of the open end down into the bristle of brush 20. As a result, the closure will be supported by the bristles of brush 20 during its passage between the brushes and will tend to be carried around in a clockwise direction by the brush 20 for a short distance to assume an inverted position and to be released onto the disk 10 in such inverted or open end up position.

In a similar manner, when an open end down closure sides off the lower end of the chute it will enter edgewise between the brushes and the open end of the closure will face to the right viewing FIG. 3 so that the bristles of brush 18 will enter the open end of the closure and the opposing brush 20 will bear against the opposite face of the closure to urge the open end into the brush 18. As a result, the closure will tend to be carried around in a counterclockwise direction by the brush 18 for a short distance to be released open end up onto the disk 10.

In actual operation the closures are being advanced between the brushes at a relatively fast rate in the order of about 400 closures per minute so that in effect the closures are being projected at a fast rate from the brushes. Thus, when the trailing edge of the closure passes beyond the point of tangency or horizontal center line of the brushes the bristles engaged in the open end thereof will act more or less as a pivot or brake for the trailing edge of the projected closure to cause the leading edge to rock upwardly whereupon the closure is released open end up. In practice, the plane of the closures need be diverted by the bristles only a very slight angle from the vertical to cause the closure to fall closed end down.

In practice, substantially all of the closures which enter edgewise between the brushes 18, 20 are caused to fall open end up onto a support disposed therebeneath by the action of the brushes and also by the action of gravity which inherently favors positioning of the relatively shallow closures with their closed or heavier end down when dropped from a height. However, some of the closures may be nested or arranged one on top of the other. In such event the closures may or may not fall right side up. Notwithstanding such occasional failure of the closures to fall right side up, it was found in practice that about ninety-five percent of the closures were oriented with their open ends up after passing between the brushes 13, 20. As a result, when such preoriented closures are subsequently passed through the main orienting apparatus, substantially all may pass therethrough, thus increasing the efficiency of the apparatus.

It will be apparent that the present preorienting device may also be used with advantage for supplying closures to other types of orienting apparatus such as the orienting apparatus illustrated and described in the US. patents to Sterling, Nos. 2,164,291 and 3,164,292. In general, and as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, such prior machines are provided with a bulk supply of closures stored in a hopper 100 to be delivered to a rotary inclined carrier disk 102, shown in dotted lines, and which is adapted to advance the randomly arranged closures deposited at the lower end of the carrier to form a group thereof and to carry the closures upwardly into engagement with orienting mechanism 104 at the upper end of the inclined carrier 102, the closures being guided into engagement with a rotary orienting disk 105. The orienting mechanism is arranged to pass oriented closures through a feed chute 106 for delivery to a closure applying machine, all other closures being returned to the carrier disk 102 to be again guided into operative relation to the orienting mechanism.

In the operation of such prior machines, as shown in Pats. Nos. 3,104,291 and 3,104,292, provision is made for controlling the delivery of the closures from the bulk supply thereof so as to provide an adequate supply or group of closures on the carrier to keep up with the demand, and to terminate the delivery of closures from the bulk supply when the group on the carrier exceeds an amount necessary to keep up with the demand of the applying machine.

As illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, in accordance with the present invention, a pair of rotary brushes 108, 110 are disposed at the lower end or throat 112 of the supply hopper 100 and between which the closures may pass to be preoriented for delivery to the rotary carrier disk 102. During their passage to the carrier disk the preoriented closures pass through an intermediate compartment 114 having a pivotally mounted and counterweighted plate 116 at its lower end and across which the closures are arranged to flow through a closure escape opening 118 in a side wall 120 of the compartment 114 and onto the continuously rotating inclined carrier disk 102.

As herein illustrated, the brushes 108, 110 may be similar to those shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and are carried by shafts 122, 123 journaled in suitable bearings formed in the side walls of the throat portion 112. One of the shafts, 123, may be supported in bearing brackets 124 mounted for adjustment to vary the spacing between the brushes as shown. The brushes 108, 110 are arranged to be rotated by driving mechanism which comprises a motor 126 belted to a clutch unit 128 mounted on a shaft 130. The shaft 130 is connected by a chain and sprocket drive 132 to the input shaft of a speed reducing unit 134. The output shaft is connected by a chain and sprocket drive 136 to a shaft 138 which in turn is connected by a chain and sprocket drive 139 to the shaft 122 which carries the brush 108. The shaft 122 is rotated in a clockwise direction and is provided on its further side viewing FIG. 4 with a chain and sprocket connection 140 on the shaft 123 on which the brush 110 is mounted. As herein shown, the chain 142 passes over the sprocket 144 on shaft 122; under a sprocket 146 fast on the shaft 123; over idler sprocket 148; under idler sprocket 150; and back to the sprocket 144.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the closures 14 at the bottom of the supply hopper 100 enter the throat portion 112 thereof, they are guided between the brushes 108, 110 by slanting guides 152, 154, the latter being pivotally mounted at 156 and provided with a rod 158 extended through an opening in the side wall to a point outside the throat where it is adjustably secured to a bracket 160. In operation, the relatively shallow closures 14, as illustrated, may pass between the spaced rotary brushes 108, 110 in the manner previously described in connection with the brushes 18, 20 whereby to release the closures open end up. The closures thus released will pass through the compartment 114 onto the pivoted bottom plate 116 to flow onto the rotary carrier disk 102. Thus, when the closures on the disk are carried into operative relation to the orienting mechanism 104, a great majority of the closures will be received in an oriented condition to be deposited into the feed chute 106. In view of the fact that the orienting mechanism 104 is arranged to reject all those closures which are not presented thereto in an oriented position, it will be appreciated that the 'preorienting mechanism which effects orientation of about ninety-five percent of the closures presented thereto will greatly enhance the production of the main orienting mechanism.

The pivotally mounted and counterweighted plate 116 forms a part of the control mechanism arranged to discontinue the delivery of closures from the supply hopper 100 when the mass of closures deposited on the rotary inclined carrier 102 of the orienting machine exceeds a normal or predetermined height, and to again effect delivery from the supply hopper when the mass of closure on the carrier returns to a normal height. The plate 116 is arranged to cooperate with a pneumatically operated control unit, indicated generally at 162, and which is fully illustrated and described in the US. patent to Sterling, No. 3,164,292. The pneumatic control includes a pressure responsive unit 164 connected by a pipe 167 to a cylinder 166. The cylinder is provided with a plunger 168 arranged to cooperate with the clutch unit 128. The clutch unit 128 may comprise a commercially available type of friction clutch normally maintained in driving relationship by a spring pressed operating pin 170. The plunger 168 of the pneumatic control mechanism is arranged to engage the operating pin 170 to push it inwardly whereby to effect disengagement of the friction clutch.

In operation, the rotary preorienting brushes 108, 110 also serve as a feed controlling device, the speed of rotation of the brushes determining to some extent the rate of feed of the closures. The brushes 108, 110 continue to rotate to supply closures at a controlled rate into the compartment 114, across the counterweighted plate 116 and through the side opening 118 to join the mass of closures on the carrier 102. Such operation of the feeding and orienting brushes 108, 110 will continue as long as the number of closures withdrawn from the mass is substantially equal to the number of closures released by the brushes 103, 110 whereby to maintain a substantially constant number of closures on the carrier 102. However, in the event that the number of closures being accepted by the orienting mechanism 104 is reduced, the mass of closures in the carrier will be increased to an extent such as to impede the flow of closures from the plate 116. The weight of the closures thus accumulated on the plate will effect downward rocking thereof to actuate the pneumatic control mechanism 162 and extend the plunger 168 into engagement with the operating pin 170 to disengage the clutch and discontinue rotation of the rotary brushes 108, 110. Subsequently, when the mass of closures on the carrier is again reduced by continued withdrawals therefrom by the orienting mechanism, the accumulated closures on the plate 116 are free to join the mass, thus reducing the number of closures on the plate and permitting upward rocking of the plate and engagement of the clutch to again initiate rotation of the rotary brushes 108, 110.

From the above description it will be seen that the provision of a preorienting device in a closure handling and orienting machine assures that a substantial majority of the closures will be oriented with their open ends up when they are deposited onto the rotary disk of the orienting mechanism and as a result a high percentage of the closures thus deposited on the disk will be passed directly into the mouth of the feed chute, thereby greatly increasing the efficiency of the apparatus. It will also be observed that the present preorienting device is capable of handling articles other than closures such as hollow articles open at one end, and that the articles or closures may vary in weight from a relatively thin walled lightweight aluminum closure to a heavier metal or plastic closure.

In practice the brushes may be adjusted so that their peripheries tangentially engage each other or may be otherwise adjusted to accommodate closures of different heights or depths. The illustrated preorienting device is particularly adapted for operation upon relatively shallow closures which are of a diameter substantially greater than the height thereof, and closures of such proportions inherently assume a position such as to enter edgewise between the brushes as illustrated. It will be understood that the bristles or like elements of the brushes may be either natural or synthetic and that bristles of difierent While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been herein illustrated and described, it will be under stood that the invention may be embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed 1. In a closure handling machine having a supply hopper and closure orienting and feeding means adapted to reject all closures presented thereto in other than an oriented position, in combination, means for preorienting randomly arranged closures prior to presenting the same to said orienting means whereby to assure that a majority thereof are presented to the orienting means in an oriented position, said preorienting means comprising a pair of rotary brushes disposed in the throat of said hopper, and guide means in said throat disposed immediately above said brushes for restricting the escape of closures to an area between the cooperating portions of the brushes, the closures above the remaining area of said throat being held in abeyance whereby to relieve the demand therefor, one of said inclined plates being pivoted, and means for adjusting the inclination of said one plate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,575,207 3/1926 Hungerford l9833 X R1 1,908,855 5/1933 Makenny 19833 R1 3,164,291 l/l965 Sterling 221-10 EDWARD A. SROKA, Primary Examiner 

